This invention relates to machines for dispensing articles, and particularly to machines for dispensing rolls of coins and bills, the bills being contained in tubes, and to an improved dispensing apparatus for use in such machines.
Retail establishments use a substantial amount of coins and small bills, e.g., ones, fives and tens, to make change throughout their business day. In many cases, the amount given out as change substantially exceeds the amount such coins and bills taken in. Consequently, such retail establishments require a ready source of coins and small bills to replenish those given out as change.
Finding a source of coins and small bills is a particular problem for retail establishments which are open outside standard business hours, i.e., 9-5, since banks are closed. Establishments open 24 hours, such as convenience stores and gas stations, are most severely affected by this problem since not only are the banks closed, but there are very few other establishments open during the late night and early morning hours. Keeping a large supply of coins and small bills on hand is one way of solving the problem. However, this creates serious security problems. The retail establishments which are open at odd hours prefer to minimize the amount of cash accessible to the store attendant to reduce not only the amount of money which a robber might be able to get but also to reduce the incentive to rob such establishments. A common practice therefore is to provide a locked safe which the attendant cannot open and into which the attendant deposits cash receipts, keeping only a minimal amount in the cash register. However, minimizing the amount of cash to which the attendant has access increases the chances that the establishment will run out of change.
One solution to this problem has been to provide "change" dispensers in such retail establishments. An example of such a dispenser is the "TACC II" marketed by Tidel Systems. Such change dispensers store rolls of coins and bills held in cylindrical containers such as tubes in a secure environment and dispense the coins or bills only in response to an appropriate input such as an access code entered by the store attendant. Thus, a store attendant can replenish the supply of change in the cash register by entering the appropriate code to which the change dispenser responds by dispensing a roll of coins or a tube of bills, depending upon what was selected.
Such change dispensers could also be advantageously used in establishments such as laundromats where coins are used to actuate machines. In this context, rolled coins could be purchased by the customer inserting an appropriate amount of paper money into the coin dispenser. The coin dispenser would then include the appropriate sensors to validate the amount and legitimacy of the paper money which could be the type of mechanisms conventionally used in dollar bill changers.
It is important that the dispensing apparatus of cylindrical object dispensers consistently dispense the object to be dispensed without damaging the object. One problem which cylindrical object dispensers have faced is that the stored objects "bridge" across the exit in the reservoir in which they are stored thus causing a jam. Also, if the objects are not handled properly by the dispensing mechanism they can be damaged.
It is an object of this invention to provide a dispensing apparatus for cylindrical objects which has an improved dispensing mechanism which reduces such problems as damage caused to the articles being dispensed by the dispensing mechanism and jams caused by articles bridging in a dispensing chamber which feeds the dispensing mechanism. Such a dispensing apparatus could be used advantageously in the change dispenser described above.